Apparatus for treating elastic webbing



Dec. 14, 1954 c. F. LIBBY 2,696,345

I APPARATUS FOR TREATING ELASTJEG WEBBING Filed-Dec. 29, 1951 Q a; Q75 33 im m, @mw,

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR TREATING ELASTIC WEBBING Carl F. Libby, Stoughton, Mass.

Application December 29, 1951, Serial No. 264,143

1 Claim. (Cl. 139-291) This invention relates to woven elastic webbing having warp threads of soft rubber and a weft or filling of rayon. In weaving narrow webs of this kind it is customary to maintain the warp threads stretched under tension until after the web is woven, the woven web also being under tension until it has passed a pair of driven press rolls which are located a convenient distance from the breast beam of the loom to feed the web and maintain tension on the warp.

When the web has passed beyond the press rolls and the tension on the warp has been relieved, shirring or fine wrinkling of the web takes place as the picks of the weft are crowded together by the contraction of the warp threads. When cotton filling is used, the shirring results in fine, even wrinkling, but when rayon alone is used, the wrinkles are coarse and irregular. Hence, while rayon is less expensive than cotton, it has heretofore been considered necessary to mix some cotton with rayon filling so that the finished web will present a suitable appearance.

According to the present invention, rayon alone can be employed for the filling if the web is moistened immediately after being woven, that is, before the tension on the warp is relieved. This tempering of the web just before the tension is relieved causes the rayon filling to condense with fine, even wrinkles, giving the finished web a desirable appearance.

Apparatus by which the web is treated is hereinafter described and is illustrated on the drawing, of which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of apparatus embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a portion of the woven web and the moistening device; and

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

The apparatus shown in Figure 1 includes portions of a narrow-web loom including a set of stationary reeds 10, a rotating reed 12 which serves to beat up the picks of filling inserted through the shed 14, and a breast beam 16 over which the newly woven fabric 18 passes. The fabric is led about an idle roll and thence to a pair of press rolls 22 and 24 by which it is fed and by which tension is maintained on the warp threads as far back as the warp supply means (not shown). The rolls 22 and 24 are referred to in the claims as fabric take-up rolls, but it is to be understood that the fabric is not rolled up on either of these rolls but is discharged as indicated in Figure 1, the longitudinal tension on the fabric being thereupon completely relieved.

According to the invention, the woven web is moistened at a point between the breast beam 16 and the feed rolls 22 and 24. As shown, a moistening device 30 is mounted at a convenient distance from the breast beam, this device consisting of a container with an open top, the container having therein an absorbent element 32 such as a piece of sponge rubber, a slab of felt, a mass of absorbent cotton, or any suitable equivalent. The absorbent element 32 projects up above the top of the container 30 sufliciently to bear against the web 18 which passes thereover. The absorbent element 32 is maintained in a thoroughly wet condition so as to moisten the web 18 as it moves past in contact with the exposed end thereof. A supply of water 34 is maintained in the container at a suitable level by any convenient means such as a tank 36 which is mounted at the same level as the container 30 and is connected thereto by a pipe 38. Water for the reservoir 36 may be supplied through a supply pipe 40, the supply being regulated by a float valve 42 of well known construction so that the water in the reservoir 36 is maintained at a suitable level, this level being also maintained by gravity in the container 30. The web 18 as it passes in contact with the wet absorbent element 32 is thoroughly moistened, the rayon filling yarns being thus tempered so that when the web has passed beyond the feed rolls 22 and 24 and the tension is relieved on the elastic warp threads, the latter contract and the moistened rayon filling threads condense with a fine even wrinkling or shirring.

I claim:

In a narrow web loom having a breast beam and a pair of fabric take-up rolls beyond the breast beam, a moistening device located between the breast beam and fabric take-up rolls in a position to apply moisture to the web after it leaves said breast beam and before it reaches said feed rolls, and means for supplying water to said moistening device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Foster Nov. 6, 1951 

